Ok So this last weekend I was wandering around a market and saw some of the worst face painting ever walking around. My Spidy senses told me some 'volenteer face painters' were near by so i went looking for them. I saw a free face painting booth with some teenagers doing face paint, though no one was there getting painted at the moment i came up. I went over to check it out and saw the classic snaz crayons but also some paints that looked like paint by numbers containers. I asked about the paints and what brand they were, and (having just opened them that day) she reached for the packaging and this is what it was.

ELMERS face paint? You mean the glue company? Never seen this before. I mean obviously it's gotta be some low quality dollar store paint (because of course it is).

The face i saw walking by just looked dirty, i couldn't tell what it was!

Anyway the package says ages 6+ and nothing about hypoallergenic or being FDA compliant, nothing. It only says 'non-toxic' on the front.

Same is true on the Elmers websiteAlso the link for the MSDS doesn't work, but i found the URL in the source code of the site, and the MSDS can be viewed here.

Some highlights:

ODOR: mild odor, musty odorSKIN CONTACTSHORT TERM EXPOSURE: allergic reactionsLONG TERM EXPOSURE: allergic reactionsEYE CONTACT: Flush eyes with plenty of water for at least 15 minutes. Then get immediate medical attention.INGESTION: If a large amount is swallowed, get medical attention.

It also doesn't hold any sort of health regulation classification. :/

So musty smelling terrible paint that can cause allergic reactions, and isn't good if it gets in the eyes or is swallowed.... So much for non-toxic.

On top of that it doesn't even work very well (because of course it doesn't).

Some lovely 1 star reviews found here and here.

Some highlights:

"If you are looking for cheap face paint, this isn't it."

"The paint is thick, greasy, and translucent."

"The black paint only made the skin look dirty when it was applied, and the white paint looked... inappropriate. The other colors painted on like faintly colored lip gloss."

"The paint didn't seem to dry, and remained an oily smear on the skin that smudged off on anything it came in contact with."

"If I applied it thickly enough to become somewhat opaque, its weight made it slowly run down the child's face."

"I wouldn't recommend buying this product for any reason"

"this stuff is absolute garbage, even for the price" .

"it's BARELY opaque and goes on very unevenly"

"The worst part is that it peels off anywhere your face moves, so the entire area around my mouth and chin was flaking/peeling off and looked awful".

"it is JUST as terrible as described above. I need something that will actually APPEAR on the skin"

"the children would walk away CRYING!"

"As for these Elmers brand face paints... NEVER AGAIN!!! I strongly advise any and ALL against buying these."

"It was like a gel and wasn't even respectable for home use. really really badIt had no colour depth and a long dry time"

Wow... that's pretty bad.

Any way, thought i would share, since i saw in in action the other day (i wouldn't have dared ask this kid for a picture, I felt way too bad for him). I frequently inform parents who are interested in face painting their kids at home to go get a small set of Snazaroo at Micheal's Craft Store as they are the most similar to mine you can buy locally and are very decent quality. Now that i found out that Micheal's also sells this Elmers cr@p, i'll be sure to add "but don't get the Elmers paints, those are terrible!"

I think I have tried these at an after school program where I was volunteering a couple times for another activity and they bought them for face painting. they are sold under a couple different brand names. the ingredients listed on the back of the brand I tried were harmless, calcium carbonate based, along with other cosmetic type ingredients. maybe the elmers is different.

the colors are pretty and bright, but they have a consistency like light pudding and are very sheer, so they hardly show up. useless for real face painting.

i cut through the craft store at our local mall to get to another store, and passed an endcap with face paints - snazaroo & two brands of the little strips of pots like elmers (however, neither one was elmer's).

one was palmer, same ingredients as their jars & bottles, the other was a no name brand, ingredients mainly paraffin, microcrystalline wax, mineral oil & misc others. the wax base made me think of wolfe, wonder if i should get some, lol.

but what i'm really into is the shimmer stuff, and just ordered two compacts of ben nye lumiere grande colors - royal purple & azalea, can't wait to try them out. also a 4 pack of snazaroo glitter powders - white, gold, aqua, and lilac.

Palmer is basically the same stuff. I looked at their amazon reviews and it's full of fake 5 star reviews. Starting to wonder if some of the negative reviews about the Elmers is from them actually as one review did mention palmers being better.... but it's like exactly the same.

my first experience with face painting was volunteering with a local youth agency and they had palmer paints. difficult to work with (smeary, thick, plasticy when dry, dull colors).

when i started googling face painting designs, i quickly found the additional info about professional brands of paints, brushes, techniques, youtube videos, etc.

the more fabulous designs i saw made me want to become good at it, so i read everything i could and watched all the youtube videos. from another post, i read you have training and experience in performance makeup, but i guarantee you the average person has no idea what real face painting is all about.

that's why you get the teens and adults doing it casually at events with the tacky little craft store "face paints". luckily, face painting with good products and techniques will always look better, and you can educate people who come to you about the quality and safety.